The best of bad decisions
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After the fall of Nightmare Moon, the white alicorn was left with a lack of words, slowly descending from the sky until her hooves touched the ground. She won, her kingdom was safe now, crops would grow and balance was restored, but this was a very hollow victory if that was the case. Looking up at the now tattooed moon, she stood in silence for a long period of time before tossing her head the opposite direction of where the moon hung as if to shun it.
She couldn't though, for she was still the ruler, thus she still needed to bring back the day and end the eclipse. Slowly raising her head back up, she looked up at the moon, her horn glowing as she moved it in an arc shape to force the moon to set, revealing the sun. That with the fight left her mentally and physically drained, she partly collapsed to the ground when her horn stopped glowing, catching herself before she did but just letting her legs give out under her, laying on the ground with her wings carelessly outstretched.
Before, she did her best to try and stay soldier strong, now that nobody was able to see her though, not even her own sister, she was able to completely break down and cry, her front hooves slowly drawing closer to her face until she could bury her muzzle under them.
Time soon passed, the Celestial alicorn had stopped crying and was just laying there silently, reluctantly getting to her feet before heading back inside the castle, her head hung and her wings draped across the ground as she returned to the castle somberly. She felt empty, she wanted to deny the whole event and rather avoid returning to the castle, but she couldn't forget about it, anything she'd do would just prolong it.
"My queen!" Her head was hung as the white alicorn made her way into the guards line of sight, he hadn't been witness to the battle considering the guards low numbers and the late hours, but before this equestria had been reliant of the two powerful sisters. "My queen, what happened, are you alrig-"
"Rally the guards." That choice of words were a surprise to the fairly confused, but what added to it was the look she gave him when she raised her head, stern and serious, nothing like her usual soft understanding eyes and compassionate smile. "We need to begin recruitment immediately." The guard seemed confused, by the lack of context, but before he could ask about it, celestia was already continuing on her way to the castle.
"..I understand, my queen." He bowed his head and didn't ask anymore questions.
Two years later..
Without her sister, as predicted, Celestia had to rely more on her guards and the wonderbolts to help her protect equestria as she was more powerless in aiding her allies. Her focus was currently on her kingdom during these harsh times, her people, suffering in poverty, as she tried to keep the sun and moon cycling constantly and the seasons changing so crops would grow and her people would live. The story about her sister, to those who knew of her, only became a myth to tell their children, and whether or not Celestia had a sister as well as what happened to her was either forgotten or kept secret, if the other lands knew of the events and Celestia's weakening, they'd take advantage of it to start war on equestria.
But that didn't mean they couldn't tell she was weak.
